On control and optimization of elastic multilink mechanisms

This paper presents a simple method for control of nonlinear elastic multilink mechanisms. The associated control law consists of open and closed loop components. The open loop component produces the desired overall rigid body motion, while the closed loop component suppresses the elastic motion relative to rigid body motion. Both the control law and the structural dynamics are referred to an inertial coordinate system. As a consequence, the control forces and control moments are easily simulated in a dynamic finite element analysis program. A series of numerical simulations illustrate the generality of this new method.